Joss Christensen’s gravity-defying triple cork led a U.S. sweep of the podium in ski slopestyle’s Olympic debut on Thursday. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — Just one more triple-cork story. It’s impossible to overstate the historical importance of ski slopestyle’s explosive unveiling at the Sochi Winter Olympics on Thursday. It will be remembered as the day freeskiing graduated to the world stage and showed its athletic legitimacy.

Long dismissed as the domain of mumbling, whirling teens, Thursday’s show exposed freeskiing for what it is: the most robustly athletic, innovative camp in skiing.

Skiers have been spinning doubles for years, but the triple just emerged in competitive skiing last month. The thrice-inverted trick — thrown with as many as four full rotations and both launched and landed switch, or skiing backwards — was a necessary ingredient for Olympic glory on Thursday. Just about every finalist spun one. But few were as lofty, flawless and inspiring as Christensen’s switch triple 1440.

With tears in her eyes, 21-year-old Julia Marino said her skiing for Paraguay should send a message to her balmy home country that “anything is possible.”

“If you want to achieve a goal, it’s possible,” said the University of Colorado at Boulder psychology student who was born in Paraguay but grew up in the U.S. “Set the bar high and you can reach higher.”

It’s pretty warm in Paraguay. There isn’t any snow. An unlikely place for an Olympic skier. Adopted as an infant by Massachusetts parents, she returned to her home country last fall for the first time after Paraguayan officials worked with the International Ski Federation, skiing’s governing body, to establish the country as an associate member of the federation.

Sarah Burke of Canada looks on during a news conference at the Winter X Games in this 2009 file photo. Burke died Jan. 19, 2012, nine days after a training accident on a halfpipe in Park City, Utah. (Nathan Bilow, AP file)

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — Spencer O’Brien expected a call from IOC officials after she lifted her board up to the camera following her qualifying run on the slopestyle course and pointed to the faded and fraying “Sarah” band on her bindings.

“I couldn’t believe they let me get away with it,” the Canadian said.

Not everyone is so lucky. Patches of black tape on ski, boards and helmet are covering the ubiquitous “Sarah” stickers touted by nearly every North American pro skier and snowboarder in honor of Sahah Burke, a pioneer in snowsports who died two years ago after sustaining a head injury in the Park City halfpipe while she trained for 2014 Winter Olympics.

Torah Bright wanted to sport her “Sarah” stickers on her helmet and board as she competed in three snowboarding disciplines. Last week she posted on her Facebook page that the International Olympic Committee denied her request to fly the “Sarah” flag, saying the committee consider the stickers a political statement. The IOC denied Bright’s request based on the strict bylaws related to equipment in the Olympic charter prohibiting any “form of publicity or propaganda, commercial or otherwise” except for the name of the manufacturer.

Park City, Utah — New sports for the 2014 Sochi Olympics include slopestyle skiing and snowboarding and halfpipe skiing. Freesking icon Tom Wallisch spoke for many slopestyle skiers at the Olympic Media Summit Tuesday when he said he can hardly believe his sport will be part of the Olympics next February.

“It’s kind of crazy,” said Wallisch, who is from Pittsburgh. “None of us ever grew up dreaming of going to the Olympics. The X Games and going out skiing with your friends was kind of all you could ever accomplish. It wasn’t like a world-famous sport. It’s always been more of a hobby. I got my start making videos of doing this kind of skiing, out in the cities and in the backcountry, in the park, putting out those videos and getting known for that. To go from being a kid, weekend warrior, skiing two days a week on the East Coast to being able to say, ‘Our sport’s going to be in the Olympics,’ to legitimize it like that, it’s amazing. It’s a crazy turn of events, something I never would have dreamed of. None of us every had that dream. I feel like it’s blowing my mind every day that we’re going to have a chance like this.”

Supermodel superskier Jon Olsson is well on his way to winning $10,000 from his lifelong pal Jens Byggmark. Byggmark, of Sweden’s national ski team, will soon regret that beery 2008 wager he made with Olsson, a trailblazer in the world of above-the-snow freeskiiing. That $10,000 bet began when Byggmark laughed at the notion of Olsson returning to his racing roots and making Sweden’s ski team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
This week Olsson cinched the GS title in the 2010 Nor-Am Cup at New Hampshire’s Waterville Valley. The 27-year-old Swede has spent the year traveling in a tired Honda, living in dorm rooms and sporting skintight Lycra, far removed from his vacation home in the French Riviera, his Lamborghini and the posh life of a freeskiing phenom. Olsson is a heralded pioneer in freeskiing, credited with several of the sport’s most innovative tricks and 11 X Games medals. Like many athletes forging the freeskiing frontier, Olsson honed his skills banging gates and racing as a youth, even winning the Swedish national championships in GS in 1997.
In six Nor-Am races this season, Olsson earned 202 points, enough to cinch the GS title and take his biggest step toward claiming Byggmark’s 10 large and Olympic bling in 2014.

Jason Blevins covers tourism, mountain business, skiing and outdoor adventure sports for both the business and sports sections at The Denver Post, which he joined in 1997. He skis, pedals, paddles and occasionally boogies in the hills.

The All Things Olympics blog from The Denver Post covers the athletes, events and stories of the Olympic Games and Olympic sports, including the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia. Its writers — John Meyer, Jason Blevins and Mark Kiszla — will feature profiles, articles, analysis and personal reflection.